Veteran journalist Paul Bauman, based in Sacramento, covers all levels of Northern California tennis. Contact him at norcaltennisczar@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @norcaltenczar.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Jenkins stays hot, upsets fourth seed in Tiburon

Jarmere Jenkins, shown in last week's Sacramento Challenger,
surprised fourth-seeded Alex Kuznetsov in the first round
at Tiburon. Photo by Paul Bauman

Jarmere Jenkins continued his hot streak today in the $100,000 First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger.
After reaching the semifinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Pro Circuit Challenger as a wild card last week, the recent University of Virginia graduate upset fourth-seeded Alex Kuznetsov of Tampa, Fla., 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 in the first round at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
By reaching his first Challenger semifinal, Jenkins soared 156 places in the world rankings to No. 386. At the NCAA Championships in May, he led the Cavaliers to their first team title in the tournament, advanced to the singles final and won the doubles crown with then-freshman Mac Styslinger.
Jenkins, 22, of College Park, Ga., will play Peter Polansky of Canada on Thursday in the second round. Polansky defeated wild card Campbell Johnson, a senior at the nearby University of California at Berkeley, 6-4, 7-5.
Seventh-seeded Donald Young, coming off singles titles in the Napa and Sacramento Challengers in the past two weeks, defeated qualifier and fellow American Greg Ouellette 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 for his 11th straight victory.
Second-seeded Tim Smyczek, the Sacramento runner-up from Tampa, demolished Matt Reid of Australia 6-1, 6-1. Smyczek, 25, of Tampa avenged a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5), 7-5 loss to Reid in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying in June.
Young, 24, and Smyczek, 25, could meet for the third straight week and 12th time overall in Friday's quarterfinals.
Australian left-hander John-Patrick Smith, a former All-American in singles and doubles at the University of Tennessee, eliminated American Steve Johnson, a Tiburon semifinalist last year, 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4.
Following are links to the singles and doubles draws and Wednesday's schedule:http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/singles_draw293.PDFhttp://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/doubles_draw294.PDFhttp://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/schedule294.PDF

About Me

Paul Bauman has 36 years of professional newspaper experience, including the past 15 at his hometown Sacramento Bee. He has covered hundreds of pro tennis tournaments, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, the Davis Cup, the Fed Cup and the Japan Open. Bauman has earned numerous awards and was nominated for the inaugural class of the Sacramento Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009. He wrote “Agassi & Ecstasy,” a biography of Andre Agassi published in 1997, while working at the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Agassi's hometown and was named the 1986 Nevada Sportswriter of the Year during a stint at the Reno Gazette-Journal. Bauman served as the editor of the ATP newspaper in the Dallas area in 1982-83 and graduated from Stanford University in 1977.